Archive for February, 2012
28 Feb
Beeriments-guess what I am trying to get to here.
This one is a mystery for you. Just what am I trying to do here? There are a couple things I’m still ironing out such as perhaps Saaz hops instead, less or more acid malt, less or more smoked malt, and the proportions of toasted malt to wheat. It may even be Maris Otter toasted…This one would be a very good candidate for 1 gallon test batch first.
Any ideas what this is?
Type: All Grain
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 8.60 gal
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: 15 Gallon
Final Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Est Mash Efficiency 82.0 %
Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8 lbs Toasted Malt (27.0 SRM) Grain 1 74.8 %
2 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 2 18.7 %
8.0 oz Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.7 %
3.0 oz Smoked Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 4 1.8 %
1.00 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] – First Wort 60.0 min Hop 5 23.0 IBUs
0.33 Cup Kosher Salt (Boil 0.0 mins) Spice 6 –
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml] Yeast 7 –
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.06 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.009 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.6 %
Bitterness: 23 IBUs Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 21.9 SRM
Mash Profile
Mash Name: BIAB, Light Body Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs 11.0 oz
Mash Steps
148 F 90 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage 62.0 F
25 Feb
Beeriments (Beer Experiments)
Money and time are tight so not much brewing going on. Instead, I’ve been thinking about some different brews I would like to try. I call them my Beeriments. Someday I may scale one of the Beeriments down to 1-2 gallons and give it a try. Until then, I will post some of my ideas, some I will spell out my intent, others I will leave you to guess my intent. Without further delay, here is my first Beeriment:
Earl’s Grey Ale
Type: All Grain
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 8.00 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Equipment: 15 gallon aluminum pot
End of Boil Volume 5.00 gal
Efficiency: 82.00 %
Fermentation: Primary @ 62F 4 weeks
Secondary: no
Dry Hop: no
Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 80.0 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 2 8.0 %
4.0 oz Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.0 %
4.0 oz Special Roast (50.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.0 %
4.0 oz Wheat, Torrified (1.7 SRM) Grain 5 4.0 %
0.25 oz Admiral [14.75 %] – First Wort 60.0 min Hop 6 19.5 IBUs
0.25 oz Admiral [14.75 %] – Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 8.8 IBUs
1.00 Box Earl Grey Tea Bags Steep post boil for 1/2 hour in whirlpool
Safale US-05 yeast
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.038 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.009 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 3.7 %
Bitterness: 28.3 IBUs
Est Color: 10.7 SRM
The hope is for a light beer with a strong flavor and aroma of Bergamot from the Earl Grey tea. Now if I could get my hands on actual Bergamot oranges….
14 Feb
You Brew Your Own Beer? Simple free tip.
I thought of this one day as I replaced the bottle on our water cooler in the office. Why not use the caps they come with on my carboys at home? After you clean the carboy, this will keep spiders, dust, etc out. There are three pieces to these Poland Springs caps: the white plastic larger piece, a foam donut shaped piece inside the cap, and a harder plastic blue piece (I’d guess this must be some sort of air release). The blue center looks like it could easily be hacked to fit an airlock too so you may be able to skip buying a stopper if you want. You could probably use the cap after fermentation for lagering or aging. Since it is all plastic, cleaning and sanitizing is easy too.
The cap. When you take it off the bottle, there is usually a plastic flap you cut off to leave just this.
The cap snaps right onto my glass carboys.
8 Feb
Mmmmmm
This braggot is awesome…it took years (8/09), but it is sooo good now. Patience IS a virtue.
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